Eunny joins author of Power Cables(Interweave, 2010) Lily Chin in discussing how cables don’t have to be traditional but can make a fashion statement all on their own with the right design and styling. Plus, reversible cables add more functional and options to your wardrobe. Download this reversible Five Way Cable Wrap pattern.

Get the entire Series 400 of Knitting Daily on a 4-Disc DVD Collection! Click here to purchase DVDs of this season or previous seasons of Knitting Daily TV.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Expert knitter and crocheter Lily M. Chin has been teaching cable knitting for nearly 20 years to packed houses and eager students. With Power Cables, she shares her designing and teaching expertise to create a must-have resource on this popular technique.

This book takes the you from the most basic twisted stitches through complex and imaginative interpretations of cables that add texture, color, and even nontraditional explorations (such as turning stitches around, constructing cables with I-cord, and wrapping stitches to create the illusion of cables).

Lily's signature and sought-after technique for creating reversible cables is thoroughly explained and integrated with the rest of the techniques, teaching the reader to make almost any cable reversible. In addition to knitting any cable pattern, readers will learn Lily's new charting system, which shows the behavior of the cable more clearly. Other tips include cabling without a cable needle, choosing the best yarns to show off different cable effects, and even designing your own cable patterns. Readers can practice each of these skills in an original knitted pattern; the book contains 15 original patterns for pullovers, jackets, bags, socks, and accessories.

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Knitting Daily TV is an exciting needle crafts how-to program on public television covering everything from knitting and crochet to stitching, felting, and spinning. The show guides viewers in learning to make fun yet smart one-of-a-kind designs using the latest products in yarn and fiber. Download free patterns, meet trendsetting knit and crochet designers, and improve or learn new skills and techniques.

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Comments

Am jumping in here, because I just have to put in a good word for this lovely piece!

Here goes - (ruffling some feathers probably):

I have just turned 60, and am a little plumper than not, and certainly don't have classic lines anywhere! But, if there is one thing I've learned it is that clothes are meant to be fun, and beguiling, on us women!! And so how you stand and how you present yourself in them has a huge effect on how they will look on you. Yes? You have to wear something like this piece with the swaggerthat it calls for!! If you wear it like you have some excitement in your life, a hint of the romantic, like you are going out the door to have an adventurous day, a day for floating around and not plodding around, I'll bet this piece could look good on everyone! You know? Think of a gawky teen girl who suddenly holds her head up and her spine straight and holds herself like a swan, in a ballet class! You might just find that this piece will fall appealingly, if you do the same!

While you are wearing it, If a little gentle adjustment is needed to place it back on your shoulder, that can be a beautiful grace note that others will be charmed by (if done right). Constant "hiking up" shows its awkwardness and annoyance and will look uncomfortable to everyone.

Okay, I can hear you now - too much trouble, not real, get this woman off of her soap box! I'm not a swan every day, for sure, but I always feel so much better when I remember to "swan" around and have found that scarves and shawls and such pieces as this will work out in that mode! And that is when people notice and compliment! I'll take this romantic piece over a utilitarian one any day.....and swagger my silly self around town. (Hey, it's that or join the Red Hat Gals!)

(And If there is too much falling off the shoulders, how about knitting a thin little "helper" and attaching it inconspicuously? Or Knitting one of Nicky Epstein's flowers to do the job, perhaps?)

Some one commented that the chart is difficult to read. I find if I hi light every other row with a pale yellow hi liter it is much easier to read. I tend to do that with all my charts. Yellow is easiest for the eyes and makes tracking so much easier. Try it on a small chart and see if you don't agree. Pat Mackey.

While I am also neither particularly beautiful, slim or young, I like the asymmetrical look of this piece. I can definitely see this as a tweedy burgandy or heathered blue topper to jeans and light top, that would work nicely in a dressy but casual situation. In my area, we have several micro-climates so a day's outing might easily take you from warmer inland to cooler beach to chilly mountain air. Best to be prepared. I wear shawls often for an evening at the theater with my less dressy work clothes to seem more dressy than I am (although this whole area is laid back, so even at an opera you'll see jeans with strappy heels). While my knitting expertise may not be up to making something like this, I am certainly going to give it a try.

I agree with many of the comments made as I generally don't wear things like this either. However, I really like the fact that this wrap has buttons. The one issue I have with this pattern is I rally have a hard time reading graphs. Does nayone have a simple way to learn to read graphs? Is there a written pattern for the graph? Thanks! Mary

I have to agree with what everyone has said earlier. But, if you take the cable and turn it around, I think you could make a lovely poncho effect. I think I'm going to try adding this cable pattern to a very simple coat pattern that I have. I'll let you all know how it turns out. And I am not slim and look like "poo" in wraps like the one pictured above.

Stoles are the most flattering shape for most people to wear, but the challenge is keeping them in place. Have shared this info before on forums, and people don't realize until they try it, or go to a shawl show, that it is true. In all honesty, I have designed a similar piece long ago (with the button loop adaptability), and Lily published first! So much to do, so little time!

The knitted pattern within the piece can be changed according to your taste, and frankly, a simpler design may be prettier. The only way to wear it that isn't as attractive, is over, then under the arms, and buttoned at the back waistband, as this is akin to "washer woman," and what you would do if you were working and not wanting your stole to get wet or damaged, so you wouldn't really care what people thought anyway!

As I always say (and someone else denoted), if you played with a towel or sheet in the correct size, you would see how flattering the piece actually could be! Then you would know how to adapt it in width or length to your particular taste or measurements.

The length would be approximately just past your wrist bones, with arms outstretched (for most shrug applications), which should be about 8-10" less than your height. The width needs to be at least wide enough to cover your back (typical minimum 17") but not so loose it won't stay on (as your lower arm is smaller). You may have to add another button and loop set another step in toward the center of the garment if you want it to stay on better, but remember that this tends to emphasize bustlines.

Knit one of her cable patterns you like, to similar dimensions, or your own (denoted above on how to obtain), and then try it on and mark with pins (or safety pins) where you want to crochet the buttonholes (they looked crocheted).

As stated, it a great thing, and you won't really know unless you try it. The only person it wouldn't work well for, is someone who is very top heavy, and then they should just move down to a lighter gauge yarn and needle and perhaps a more delicate stitch pattern.

I am always so impressed with Lily's work. She had a wrap a few years ago that our entire knitting group made up. I absolutely love both of mine! But I wanted to have something that was just a little easier, and I think this is just what I was looking for! I can't wait to get started. I am now considering buying her book! What a super pattern!

Barbara H made me laugh with the spot on comment about the "glasses over the girls." I don't think this particular outsize cable is very flattering, but we appreciate Lily's obvious talent and creativity. The samples in the video are very intriguing! And KD's generosity in sharing a free pattern with us is much appreciated.

I am very intrigued by this concept of an "every way wrap" though I've never knit one. I do have the pattern by Okmin Park in the Fall '09 IK on my must-knit list. It was modeled by the "gallery gals" and I thought it was fabulous.

BTW, Eunny, Kathleen, whatever happened to the gallery gals? Annie was one of them. Bring them back! Please!

If this comment is inappropriate, please forgive me. I love the color, I love the cables, and I think the other design elements are great. But, when I look at this - and here is the forgive me part - it appears to me as though the model has a pair of eye glasses over "the girls". It also appears to me as though it would be uncomfortable to wear. I admit to being 60-something...and I would never wear something like this myself. But, I am always looking for something my daughters and/or daughters-in-law might enjoy wearing. I am admittedly not "fashion forward", but I do not think this would look good on any of them. Having said that, I most certainly appreciate the designer's skills and, as always, the free patterns that KD shares with us. Please don't hate me....

I have knitted and wear shawls/stoles. Am a size 10 and enjoy them. Wear them while grocery shopping, driving, at medical visits, in restaurants, etc., and have had no problems at all. Actually the comments I get are appreciated, particularly after one puts the work into a knitted item that is required. One shawl I did knit is quite long and I have to wear it doubled. I have no direct comments on this particular pattern.

Thank you for this pattern and for all the other beautiful patterns that you publish here for free. I challenge those who criticise to come up with a pattern that will suit absolutely everyone. I have made a similar garment and never fail to receive compliments when I wear it - and I'm neither young, tall or slender.

Ladies, you might try one, but first, without doing all the knitting, get a piece of scrap fabric, cut it to the measurements given, grab some safety pins, and experiment. I made a similar garment, the Shrugigan from Patternworks (Schaefer Yarn Co., "Nancy" yarn), and though I'm a size L or XL, it looks great and does stay on. You don't wear it in place of a jacket for cold weather, but on top of one - say a cotton knit or sweatshirt-weight. I wear it to the office over a long-sleeve t-shirt so it's not drafty. You do need to practice moving around in it as with any garment you've never worn before. I think what is bothering you all is that it is not a traditional look - it's more costumey, funkier, and you are worried that might only be for young people, but not so (I'm 55). But it's also not dowdy at all, rather it's contemporary and interesting in a DKNY or JJill or Eileen Fisher kind of way. You might be surprised.

I agree. Not very many people wear stoles anymore. They are awkward for the way women live and dress today. I knit a lot of shawls, because I like them. But I tend to wear them at home on chilly days instead of a cardigan and I keep one in the car in case of unexpected chilly weather or too much air conditioning. I like a light lacey shawl with an evening gown. But I never dress up that way anymore. I can't think of the last time I saw someone else wearing a stole or shawl here in NJ where I live.

Many times we see beautiful items that are pretty on paper but not practical in real life. I think this is one of them. I do like the cable portion and I would use it as a center panel in an aran afghan.

At the risk of sounding deIiberately repetitive, I must concur... particularly because one never sees a model - however thin or youthful - needing to manage a buffet plate or even a wine glass. Yet, logically, one would wear most of the 'styles' at mid-season or outdoor events.
As for the "enlarging effect", my pants are a size 10, but my bras are at 14 DDD. The style is absolutely NOT for me!!!!

My problem with these multi-wear wraps is that, while the idea is very interesting and "knitterly", actually trying to wear the finished product can be awkward with sometimes matronly results.

For example, the model in this pattern is clearly a beautiful girl, but wearing this piece as a stole looks awkward, as a shrug looks ridiculously oversized, and as a faux cardigan looks dowdy. I mean, it's a lovely piece, and I'm intrigued by the reversible cable design, but short of folding it into a scarf, I'm not sure how I would *really* wear it.